I once farted during the final match for prizes at an FNM. It was a tense moment, everything was quiet, control vs control, I was about to mana leak, thought about it.. and farted. Then mana leaked.
I initially thought the kicker was to hand, but a full zombify effect is much better. Not sure it fits in my section though - 2 drop mode is ok for aggro, six drop is higher than i want for reanimator decks.
I think this isn't really a card for reanimitor, it's a card for aggro on the 2-drop side and for midrange on both the 2-drop side (trade for aggro beaters and get you some life) and the six-drop side (get back a utility creature). Man this set has a lot of cards I want to test.
The card is good, but it has a lot of competition, and directly competes vs Order of Midnight, which I think is better overall:
- The primary use of both Nullpriest of Oblivion / Order of Midnight IMO is to be an evasive modal aggressive 2-drop in aggro decks that can be played in midrange decks as a filler card if needed.
- As a straight up aggressive 2-drop creature, Order of Midnight is better in most scenarios because flying > menace.
- Up until you hit 6 mana, Order of Midnight will be better in most scenarios because it allows you to pay for both the spell and creature side in separate payments.
- In a creature based midrange deck, I'd bet being able to recur my 3-4 value drops before I'm able to curve out to 6 will be more useful overall than the reanimation effect.
- If creature types matters, humans and knights have more cubeable synergies than vampires and clerics.
The card is good, but it has a lot of competition, and directly competes vs Order of Midnight, which I think is better overall:
- The primary use of both Nullpriest of Oblivion / Order of Midnight IMO is to be an evasive modal aggressive 2-drop in aggro decks that can be played in midrange decks as a filler card if needed.
- As a straight up aggressive 2-drop creature, Order of Midnight is better in most scenarios because flying > menace.
- Up until you hit 6 mana, Order of Midnight will be better in most scenarios because it allows you to pay for both the spell and creature side in separate payments.
- In a creature based midrange deck, I'd bet being able to recur my 3-4 value drops before I'm able to curve out to 6 will be more useful overall than the reanimation effect.
- If creature types matters, humans and knights have more cubeable synergies than vampires and clerics.
I'd point out that the inability to block versus lifelink is a pretty major difference, especially for the midranged decks. When played on curve or top decked against aggro, Null priest will do a lot more to stabilize than Order of Midnight could.
Order of Midnight was really disappointing when I tested it. I often wanted the body before I had an option to use the Raise Dead effect. I think Nullpriest is a better (and far more flexible) body when played at face value, and even when adding in both modes together, the impact of the kicker reanimating the body directly to the battlefield instead of returning it to hand is a big deal.
In hard aggro, Order might be slightly better, but in everything else, I'd rather have this card. And even in aggro, I think I prefer this creature because of how good the lifelink is in the aggro mirror.
I mostly still have order of midnight in cause I love the storybook version of the card, but it seems like the clear cut for this.
Edit - And while in a pure aggro deck order of midnight is better, it only goes in pure aggro decks. This is still good in aggro, and playable in basically every non-combo archetype.
Phyrexian Delver but instead of losing life, you gain life? And it can also be a child of night with menace? Seems pretty solid as a value play or a tempo play.
Think it's a bit better than order of midnight... (I played silly amounts with order in standard)
But it is very much a value creature, that isn't good when reanimated, that requires other creatures to make use of the kicker. Not really where I want to be in black in a powered cube.
It's definitly a good card with a reasonably high floor, and worth testing... but think it's unlikely it'll stick.
Much better card in unpowered/larger cubes than small/powered cubes.
And just like that black two drops are stacked....It's going to take a lot of playtesting to work out the tiers these will fall into.
Bloodghast, Dark Confidant, Heir of Falkenrath, Kitesail Freebooter, Oona's Prowler, Pack Rat,Scrapheap Scrounger, Order of Midnight, Skyclave Shade, Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, Blood Artist, Vampire Hexmage, and now Nullpriest of Oblivion.
Yea, I was just thinking the same thing. I'm going to need someone smarter than me to help me figure out what I should run! Looking forward to the discussion once people get some reps in
Huh... I don’t know what to think about this one. I feel stumped a little. How good is a 2 mana 2/1 menace lifelink?
My favourite thing about this card is its modality. It can fill a creature slot in aggro, it can support the reanimate and sneak attack decks, or it can play a versatile role in midrange (where it probably shines the most)
But is it good enough? Is it helping the cube environment? Or is it clunky? Is it a trap?
I like this card. It's watchlist for me at 360 but my best guess is this is a 450+ card.
I think it's a bit better than Order of Midnight.
Given the built in Zombify, I wonder if this might actually compete with Liliana, Death's Majesty as a card.
I think Liliana is probably still the better card, but it's a bit more narrow / less versatile and this card supports black aggro better.
That is amazing! With the top-tier of a slot getting stacked, diversity increases a lot, since the strongest suite will be more dependant on the cube as a whole and the supported archetypes rather than blindly choosing the strongest cards in a vacuum.
Pale Rider of Trostrad and Asylum Visitor are also roleplayers in the growing list of decent black two drops. Although I cut PRoT it had some good outings. Asylum Visitor will be cut for Skyclave Shade too.
- Lifelink for BW Lifegain (This archetype is getting close to having enough incidental playable)
- 2/1 Menace is actually a decent rate, definitely worse than Oona's Prowler but still not bad as an early attacker. 6 Mana in aggro is not unrealistic - Earthshaker Khenra's eternalize has been a pretty good upside.
- The re-animation is effect is unrealistic, but I could see it as a 3-4 th reanimation pick up if the reanimator deck is struggling to get playables. (Especially if the reanimator deck has Lake of the Dead, this is actually a pretty good card to curve into).
I will most likely be cutting the Glint-Sleeve for this card.
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I think in aggro the 6 mana is hard to reach, but also the reanimator targets will not be the same as what you will get from dedicated reanimator shells. As a reanimator spell 6 mana is too slow. I dont feel like I need an aggro-animator spell. So it is a pass for me.
JinxedIdol, I feel like you might be overlooking its value a bit. A 2/1 lifelink menace for 2 in black is already a VERY good baseline, scales scarily well with equipment/other buffs, which means black aggro is always happy to have it. But if you topdeck it late game, it can totally swing the board if you've got Chupacabra, Nekrataal, Shriekmaw etc etc in the bin (which the kinds of black decks I'm happy to play usually are). I view this dude as basically a modal spell, and a really strong one at that.
Me and my group are going to try this. It's not a reanimtor card, its an aggro and midrange card that offers some late game gas on an already aggressive 2 drop, and in reanimator and midrange decks offers a way to tutor for a reanimation spell off of a Fauna Shaman/Survival of the Fittest/Worldly Tutor/Garruk, the Veil-Cursed or recurred with Liliana, the Last Hope, which is very exciting as the next best card in that vein is Phyrexian Delver, which sorta blows and can't be tempo-ed out early for beats or to carry equipment or to pressure planeswalkers.
How are people feeling about this card now? I'm looking for more life gain in black to offset the self-damage of my black section, so I'm considering replacing Skyclave Shade for this.
So yet another strong 2-drop from the set? Great abilities early game tied with the option of a Zombify tied to it for the late game.
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Staff- The primary use of both Nullpriest of Oblivion / Order of Midnight IMO is to be an evasive modal aggressive 2-drop in aggro decks that can be played in midrange decks as a filler card if needed.
- As a straight up aggressive 2-drop creature, Order of Midnight is better in most scenarios because flying > menace.
- Up until you hit 6 mana, Order of Midnight will be better in most scenarios because it allows you to pay for both the spell and creature side in separate payments.
- In a creature based midrange deck, I'd bet being able to recur my 3-4 value drops before I'm able to curve out to 6 will be more useful overall than the reanimation effect.
- If creature types matters, humans and knights have more cubeable synergies than vampires and clerics.
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On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
In hard aggro, Order might be slightly better, but in everything else, I'd rather have this card. And even in aggro, I think I prefer this creature because of how good the lifelink is in the aggro mirror.
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My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Edit - And while in a pure aggro deck order of midnight is better, it only goes in pure aggro decks. This is still good in aggro, and playable in basically every non-combo archetype.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
But it is very much a value creature, that isn't good when reanimated, that requires other creatures to make use of the kicker. Not really where I want to be in black in a powered cube.
It's definitly a good card with a reasonably high floor, and worth testing... but think it's unlikely it'll stick.
Much better card in unpowered/larger cubes than small/powered cubes.
Gonna be great in standard.
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Bloodghast, Dark Confidant, Heir of Falkenrath, Kitesail Freebooter, Oona's Prowler, Pack Rat,Scrapheap Scrounger, Order of Midnight, Skyclave Shade, Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, Blood Artist, Vampire Hexmage, and now Nullpriest of Oblivion.
Yea, I was just thinking the same thing. I'm going to need someone smarter than me to help me figure out what I should run! Looking forward to the discussion once people get some reps in
Draft my cube! (630 cards)
My favourite thing about this card is its modality. It can fill a creature slot in aggro, it can support the reanimate and sneak attack decks, or it can play a versatile role in midrange (where it probably shines the most)
But is it good enough? Is it helping the cube environment? Or is it clunky? Is it a trap?
I think it's a bit better than Order of Midnight.
Given the built in Zombify, I wonder if this might actually compete with Liliana, Death's Majesty as a card.
I think Liliana is probably still the better card, but it's a bit more narrow / less versatile and this card supports black aggro better.
360 card powered Chicago cube:
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2020 Numerical Power Rankings:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/cube-card-and-archetype/817969-2020-numerical-cube-power-rankings
2018 CubeTutor Power Rankings:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/cube-card-and-archetype/803301-cubetutor-power-rankings-2018-by-color-and-cmc
That is amazing! With the top-tier of a slot getting stacked, diversity increases a lot, since the strongest suite will be more dependant on the cube as a whole and the supported archetypes rather than blindly choosing the strongest cards in a vacuum.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
What I like about this is:
- Lifelink for BW Lifegain (This archetype is getting close to having enough incidental playable)
- 2/1 Menace is actually a decent rate, definitely worse than Oona's Prowler but still not bad as an early attacker. 6 Mana in aggro is not unrealistic - Earthshaker Khenra's eternalize has been a pretty good upside.
- The re-animation is effect is unrealistic, but I could see it as a 3-4 th reanimation pick up if the reanimator deck is struggling to get playables. (Especially if the reanimator deck has Lake of the Dead, this is actually a pretty good card to curve into).
I will most likely be cutting the Glint-Sleeve for this card.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
We don't even play Erratic Portal/Crystal Shard/Equilibrium, but for those that do, this seems even better.
[180 classic cube]